


Leave Out the Others

by Queenie_004



Category: My Mad Fat Diary
Genre: Eventual Romance, F/M, Fluff, Friendship/Love, Humor, Matchmaking, Mutual Crushes, Swooning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-30
Updated: 2018-05-30
Packaged: 2019-05-15 21:49:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,365
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14798579
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Queenie_004/pseuds/Queenie_004
Summary: Rae and Finn are circling each other but not acting on their feelings and it's starting to make their friends go a little mad, so Izzy puts her plotting skills to work to force them to admit they fancy each other. As she drafts the gang one by one into her plan they have varying levels of success, but Rae and Finn might just be plotting something themselves.I had a lot of fun writing this one and getting everyone involved. It is fluffy and light a bit silly and a lot romantic.Like all writers I crave feedback! Please share in the comments if you have any and thank you for reading!





	1. The Plan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Izzy decides some meddling is called for when Rae and Finn are taking too long to admit their feelings

Izzy is tired of all the nonsense and Chop is tired of Izzy talking about the nonsense. Football is on and he’s hoping that when it ends they’ll be enough time for a little afternoon delight before heading to the pub to meet the gang. But instead Izzy keeps banging on about it.

“It just doesn’t make any sense” she sighs. “I know Rae fancies him, she talks about him all the time! What can she possibly be waiting for, he fancies her too, yeah?”

“I don’t know Iz. Yeah, s’pose he does”

“Whatcha mean you s’pose? You said the other night at the bonfire he was starin’ at her all night”

Chop should have listened and said whatever she wanted to hear because next thing he knows he’s been drafted into The Plan.

***

The Plan, as outlined by Izzy in a very serious manner at The Swan, is to finally get Rae and Finn to admit they like each other and start dating. Because they are two of the most stubborn people she has ever met, The Plan is going to require subterfuge and a bit of acting.

“Sounds like lyin’” Chop says as he looks longingly at the door for Archie to come in and save him from getting involved in this. “It’s not lyin’! We’re helpin’! We just have to not tell _them_ we’re helpin’ to make it work.” Izzy is really excited about The Plan but doesn’t want Archie or Chloe involved yet because she suspects they’ll be even less enthusiastic than Chop. Chop will do it because well, he’s her lad and she knows what you have to dangle in front of a lad to get him to do your bidding.

***

The Plan involves music gigs and Chop has to admit (to himself, he doesn’t want Iz thinking he’s for any of this bollocks) that it’s the perfect way to get those two entrapped. Chop is to buy tickets for a band from Leeds who no one but Rae and Finn have ever heard of before. Four tickets but two are for the floor and two are in the balcony.

Izzy is excited as she hands out the tickets because Rae and Finn seem to be enthusiastic for the show so they are both in good moods at the same time, which is a feat in itself. “Me an Rae are goin’ upstairs so you boys don’t get into any trouble down by the stage, yeah?” she says as she links arms with Rae and they head for the door. The usher separates everyone into two queues—one for the floor and one for the balcony and the girls find they have been split up.

When Rae goes down to the floor looking for the boys to switch her ticket she only finds Finn, “Where’s Chop? I got his ticket by mistake,” she shouts as a guitar starts to screech, he leans into her to say that Chop was looking for Izzy but right then the crowd becomes a wave that pushes them both towards the stage.

***

Finn loves this band and Rae is the only other person he knows who also loves them so he’s not sure how Chop and Izzy got into them but he’s glad to be here with Rae instead of Chop. She was supposed to be upstairs with Iz but the tickets got mucked up so she’s with him and the crowd is pushy and loud and they keep getting shoved into each other and at some point after a dozen “sorrys!” between the two of them she laughs and says, “Sorry times infinity!” And he nods his head and is glad the music is loud so he can’t tell her he actually likes having her body pressing against his and that it’s taking a lot of control to not run his hands all over her because she’s so fit in her little skirt and tights with a sexy vest on under her leather jacket.

But Rae is his mate even though some days she can’t stand him and he thinks she would probably laugh in his face if she knew how hot she gets him so he just enjoys the music—and the occasional thrust of her body into his, he’ll deal with the repercussions of that later that night alone in his bed.

***

Izzy is thrilled that Phase One of The Plan went off well. Neither Rae or Finn realized the ticket mix-up was deliberate and when they finally got out of the pit and back out in front of the venue they were both red faced and laughing and Izzy looked at Chop with a “told ya” grin and Chop hoped that meant that The Plan was now over and done.

Hardly.

The next step was for Izzy and Rae to see a gig together without the boys. Rae didn’t know Izzy was so into going to gigs but she’s happy to have someone to go with and her mum is less difficult about it when she says, “it’s just Iz mum.” They plan to meet at the venue and Rae waits for a bit but Izzy doesn’t show. She’s twisted her ticket as she grows more anxious and then she sees Finn coming towards her and she freezes to an unpleasant flashback of the last time Finn arrived unexpectedly when she was waiting for someone else.

“Whatya doin’ here?” she asks, “Where’s Izzy?” and he tells her that she got sick and sent Chop to his house with her ticket so he could go with Rae instead. Rae is worried and thinks they should maybe go check on Izzy but according to Chop, “she’s contagious I don’t think her mum would even let us in to see her.” Rae is disappointed—she hardly ever gets time alone with Iz without Chloe around. But on the other hand, she never gets time alone with Finn so maybe this is not such a bad run of luck (for her, certainly it is for Izzy).

***

When it’s over Rae feels like a shit friend to Izzy because she’s really, really glad she couldn’t come. The crowd was a bit rowdy and Finn was getting proper riled up about it. A tosser kept drunkenly stumbling against her and trying to shout into her ear and he was older than her and a being a right twat. So much so that Finn got in the guy’s face and grabbing him by the collar yelled something she couldn’t quite make out in the din but she was sure she heard the words “my girl” and possibly “…I will crack yer fuckin’ head open.”

When the guy backed away Finn turned to her with a scowl on his face, “you a’right Rae?” and when she nodded his face relaxed a bit into one of relief. “If he comes back near ya, I’m gonna punch his bloody face in” he said and she couldn’t believe someone would stand up for her like that, or that that someone was Finn Nelson. It made her knees feel a bit wobbly and her face flush with heat.

When she tells Izzy about this a few days later she doesn’t entirely tell the truth about how giddy and aroused the whole thing made her feel. She’s just glad Izzy is feeling better and that she sent Finn in her place. Sweet tiny Iz would have been no match for a drunken dickhead.

***

“It’s working!” Izzy whispers to Chop as they sit across the table from Finn and Rae who are animatedly talking and touching each other an awful lot. Chop has to admit that they do seem a lot cozier lately. “Good on ya lass” he whispers and kisses the top of her head. “On to Phase Three!” she nearly squeals and he drops his head and groans.


	2. Phases 3-4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rae unknowingly puts The Plan in jeopardy, but Archie saves it

Phase Three is a slight disaster in that Rae develops an instant crush on the bassist of the band and spends the entire gig, and after the gig, and the days following the gig, gushing about him and making filthy jokes about what she’d do if he was her boyfriend. This sets Finn back to his default mode of silent and sullen and Izzy keeps trying to direct the conversation away from “Fit Bassist I Would Shag Senseless (as Rae keeps insisting on calling him, Izzy can see Finn’s fingers crushing his cigarette each time he hears it) but Rae is not easily deterred. However, neither is Izzy and she decides for the next step of The Plan they will need back up.

***

“The Plan?” Archie says peering over the top of his spectacles. “You’re the one orchestrating all these gigs?” He is confused and a little impressed. It is also clear to him that Rae and Finn fancy each other and he can’t seem to work out why they aren’t bloody acting on it. “Is it working?” and Izzy tells him how well it was going, and then not so much. “Ah right, the Fit Bassist Rae Would Shag Senseless” he says and Izzy scolds him for bringing it up and Chop is just glad there’s a new recruit because he’s going through his wages paying for all these tickets. “So, what ya need me to do?” Archie asks and Izzy joyously throws her arms around him.

***

Rae has gone off the bassist a bit but Finn is still sulky so although it wasn’t in Izzy’s instructions, Archie decides to improvise by going for a few pints before the gig. Archie pretends to drink more than he actually does so he can have his wits about him to report back to General Iz. Although at first the drink makes Finn a bit belligerent, Archie watches Finn watch Rae as she sways in happy drunkenness and he can see his friend start to melt a little. When Rae turns to them and holds her arms out and cries, “who’s dancin’ with me then?” Archie shoves Finn towards her and fake slurs, “I’m too pissed mate.” She gives Finn a rather wicked little smile and crooks her fingers in a “c’mere” gesture and Archie almost doesn’t recognize his best mate who moves towards Rae like a man under a spell.

And then as if the shaggable bassist never existed, the two of them are twirling and laughing and for fucks sake Finn even _dips_ her—and as she comes back up her hair has come loose and she looks quite sexy and as she wraps her arms around Finn’s shoulders their faces come tantalizingly close and Archie realizes he’s muttering “kiss her, kiss her you fucking idiot!” under his breath. He has seen Finn with plenty of girls but he has never seen him like this, enthralled and breathless but also almost shy. And he knows Rae well enough now to know that she does not usually look this way, like something has come undone inside her and it’s something wild and exciting.

***

Archie commandeered the settee so Finn and Rae would have to be on the floor together. In the morning he wakes up before them and squints to see if what he’s seeing is in fact what he’s seeing. Because it looks like Finn has his arm around Rae and she is curled up into his side all cozy as can be. He very slowly reaches for his spectacles and yep, that’s exactly what they are doing. He is so excited he wants to call Izzy right away, but it’s half five in the morning and he doesn’t want to wake the lovebirds up. Instead he turns over so his back is to them and a few hours later he’s woken up by their quiet giggles and shared whispers and he smiles against the back of the settee. He is fucking acing The Plan.

***

Finn doesn’t feel his usual hangover. He feels fairly decent all told. Actually with Rae cuddled up next to him he feels pretty fucking great. Her hair brushes his chin and her hand rests against his chest. It is all pretty perfect except for Archie snoring above them. Finn moves his cheek against the top of her head and allows the hand he has on her back to rub slow circles until she shifts and sighs from the crook of his arm. “Hiya” she looks up at him and he very much wants to kiss her—he remembers how free she was with him last night when they were dancing, there was no awkwardness or distance. It was like they were fitting together in some new way and it thrilled him. When it was time to sleep she said she was cold and he beckoned her like she had done to him on the dance floor, “I’ll warm ya up girl” and she’d crawled over without hesitation and whispered right in his ear, “ya best behave yourself Mr. Nelson” with an exaggerated wave of her finger and his immediate reaction was to not behave himself in the least but again, fucking Archie was right there passed out so he just nuzzled her ear and murmured, “I’ll do me best Miss Earl but I can’t make any promises” and her giggle felt like fizzy bubbles tickling over his skin.

***

When Archie debriefs with Izzy—the drinks and dancing to the sleeping arrangement and the morning whispers she starts jumping up and down she’s so happy. “You are _much_ better at this than Chop!” she squeaks as she hugs him. “They are going to come in today holding hands, I just know it!” Chloe arrives during their giggling and although they try to change the subject she’s not having it. “Everyone is going to gigs except me. I never get invited. What’s this all about then?” she demands and since Izzy is a terrible liar, and Archie is afraid of getting left out of Phase Five if he betrays Izzy, and they both are semi-terrified of Chloe, Izzy takes a deep breath and starts, “so, there’s this plan…”


	3. Phase 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With every detail accounted for, The Plan shifts into a group effort at a music festival. But Finn has his own plan and it doesn't involve anyone else except Rae

The Plan moves into Phase Five, which is at a festival and everyone is involved. Izzy calls a meeting at Chop’s and now he along with Archie and Chloe are listening to Izzy announce the next set-up. She’s so excited it is hard to not get caught up in it. Archie is loving The Plan, Chop is resigned to it (and loves festivals so this part isn’t so bad) and Chloe is sick to death of all the fittest girls at college only talking to her to ask if Finn Nelson is single and if so, can she give him their numbers. She can’t understand how Finn and Rae and their matching broody personalities would actually even work in a relationship, but she’d rather see her best mate date Finn then those greedy little tarts get their fake nails into him.

***

Everyone has a role to play at the festival. There are logistics and B plans and secret signals. Izzy has thought of every contingency and she is positive that The Plan ends tonight with a kiss between the two of them finally admitting what all of Lincolnshire knows by now which is that they are head-over-heels, hearts-on-sleeves, made-for-each-other mad about one another. There’s just one problem that Izzy didn’t include in The Plan for the night: they can’t find Rae. Or Finn. They came in with them and the rest of the gang gave each other knowing glances and shifted into gear and then they lost their targets. “Well where could they have gotten to?” Izzy demands, her eyes narrowing in on Archie who was the last one standing next to them. “Maybe they went for a kebab and got lost!” Archie sputters, he’s not going to be the one to fuck up The Plan when he has been so good at it. There’s arguing back and forth about whether to look for them or abandon the whole thing and just watch the bands. Chloe tries to usurp power from Iz and take a different method but Izzy is not having it. Chop is pissed that they are so close to this thing being over and now it may never be over _and_ he’s missing the first act and hasn’t even had a beer yet.

*** 

Looking back over her shoulder Rae can make out the small figures of their friends still near the entrance of the field. It looks like they are arguing and probably don’t even notice that they’re gone. “This was a good idea” she says to Finn who is a few steps ahead of her, “Look at em down there” she points as he turns back to look, “The gig has started and they’re still muckin’ about at the gate!” Finn shakes his head and they keep moving up the hill past people sitting on the ground surrounding the venue. She is taking her time going up because while climbing hills is not her specialty, staring down Finn Nelson’s perfect backside is absolutely something she is brilliant at and she is enjoying having an uninterrupted, front row view to its glorious majesty.

Rae loves seeing all this music with Finn. She loves when they like the same bands and slip into a private world listening together and she equally loves when they disagree and argue because it’s exciting to have a boy speak your same musical language, especially when the boy looks like this one. She sees a different side of him at all these gigs—this Finn smiles widely and laughs easily. He’s not so prickly around her and she likes that he is protective and even flirty. What she likes less is that one of their mates always seems to be hanging round like a child minder. A few times they’ve been on their own but not enough. In the queue to the gate Finn had leaned over and pushing her hair back to get closer to her ear whispered, “let’s lose them inside, yeah?” and she felt her insides turn warm and nodded enthusiastically, “yes, please” she whispered back and he had given her the hottest little smirk, “follow my lead.” And then he winked and it made her laugh because Finn _never_ winked but this was Happy Gig Finn and she would follow him anywhere.

***

He can’t believe he got up the nerve to take her away but he’d been thinking about it ever since Chop announced they were going to this festival—all of them were going. At that point he didn’t want to go, he was tired of going to gigs with this rotating group of people. He just wanted to go with Rae but knew that couldn’t happen because for weeks now Archie had been there too. Or Izzy and Chop. And now Chloe was tagging along and it was driving him fucking mad. His favorite moments at all of these gigs had been the ones where they either accidentally had ended up alone, or the crowd had swallowed them until they were just two other strangers in sea of them. Each time it made him fall for her a little deeper. She looked so pretty when she was happy—her face lit up and her body moved in ways it did not in the rest of the world like she didn’t care who was watching. And he would know because he has been studying her body and her face, her moods and her laughter for a long time now. He was shit at studying any other subject but when it came to Rae Earl he could have a bloody A Level at this point.

So he had dug out the camping blanket and stopped at the shops on his way to meet everyone and bought some wine gums because he’d seen her nibbling on them a few times over the summer. He was nervous that she would reject him and want to stay with everyone else but there was something ticking inside him that said that she wanted to get away from them too. These gigs all summer had been a blast but they also had sometimes felt like being out with your dad and mum watching over you to make sure you behaved yourself. He was quite tired of behaving himself with Rae and wanted to finally find out if she wanted to misbehave with him. And to take that chance meant getting away from their friends.

***

They reach a spot on the slope that has a good enough view of the stage but not too many people around. Music is traveling up the hill and there’s a nice breeze blowing and the sun is going to set soon. Rae sighs because this is so much better than being in a loud crowd of drunks being jostled about and spilling your beer all over yourself in the madness. As she’s surveying the scene she hears Finn clear his throat and turns to see he’s laid down a quilt on the grass. He looks a little shy as he watches for her reaction. “You thought of everything din’t ya?” she drawls and the corners of his mouth go up, “It was me Nan’s, it’s just for camping really.” He reaches his hand out to help her down and she takes it and slowly lowers herself. “Ah it’s lovely Finn.” She knows how much his Nan meant to him so this feels like a special thing for him to have brought to a gig out in a field. He comes down next to her and she hears rustling and then he holds out a bag of wine gums. “I know it’s not crisps, but we have to have something this far from the food” he says and she giggles because it’s charming, he’s charming—and he’s so close to her and unbelievably handsome and she can’t believe this is even her life right now. Only a few months ago this would have all seemed like a cruel dream completely out of her reach.

He opens the bag and pours a few in her hand and she smiles at him and pops one right in her mouth. She’s working on being braver about eating in front of people but right now she’s so content that she doesn’t even think too hard about it. “Mmmm” she sighs, “red is my favourite.” She turns to look at him, “what’s yours?” He’s watching her quietly and finally he coughs and says, “ahh the black I reckon.” So she digs into the bag and finds a black one and holds it hovering over his mouth. His eyes widen and his jaw drops and she places the candy on his tongue and then taps the tip of her finger to his lips. “More red for me then” she murmurs.

***

The sun is setting and the horizon is on fire with pink and orange and fading wisps of clouds are blowing away. There is a soundtrack drifting towards them and the muted sound of a crowd feels far. Rae is close enough that their bodies are nearly touching and her silhouette with the backdrop of the flaming sky is like a damn work of art that he can’t stop staring at. Coming up this hill was the best idea he’s ever had in his entire life. He doesn’t even mind that other people have found their way around them. It feels like they are in this perfect bubble and he cannot let it break. When she put the candy in his mouth and touched his lips he almost couldn’t breathe. She was flirting with him—Rae! Rae who hated him on sight and seemed to barely tolerate him at the start, which he deserved of course the way he’d acted in the beginning. But all these gigs they’ve been going to he thought about the way she’d sway into him and danced with him being so uninhibited, how she’d call him late at night afterwards to talk more about it because she didn’t want to stop reliving the feeling. He remembered how hot it got him when she crawled towards him on the floor of his lounge and teased him about behaving himself, and then curled up against him and slept in his arms the entire night. And tonight she had not hesitated in joining him in escaping their friends and giving up a prime spot at the center of the action to be alone with him and an old blanket and a packet of wine gums. He could keep talking himself out of believing that she only thought of him as a mate, but he could not deny the evidence that he was actually wrong.

He reaches out his hand and places it on her back and starts to slowly rub her and nothing terrible happens. Her hair tickles his fingertips and she makes a gentle shudder. “Are ya cold Rae?” The sun was almost gone and the darkness had brought a chill. She looks over at him and fuck she is so pretty her eyes look big and her expression soft, “a bit yeah.” He reluctantly moves his hand from her back and starts to take his jacket off but she shakes her head. “You’ll get cold then, don’t be silly!” she scolds and he’s disappointed because he thought that would be a proper gentleman thing to do. But then he gets the second best idea he’s ever had and he motions her towards him like the night on the floor, “I’ll warm ya up girl” he grins and she throws her head back laughing heartily and his heart thumps into his ribcage because they have shared jokes now _and_ she’s moving closer to him still laughing, “how’s this going to work then Mr. Nelson?” He pulls up the corners of the quilt and opens his arms and she moves in next to him as he pulls the quilt up over their backs and shoulders. Wrapping an arm around her he pulls her close and he can feel her relax into him. He knows this can get so much better but in this moment he can’t imagine anything any more perfect.

***

He is warm and solid next to her. She knows what he looks like under his shirt and she can’t quite believe that she’s pressed up against it. Again! For someone who didn’t even like her at first, Finn Nelson seems to not mind at all when she’s close to his body. She has stopped paying attention to the show because she wants to focus entirely on how amazing this night is: the music, the sky, the red wine gums and the boy, this boy she is actually letting herself believe fancies her. She can’t be that bad at reading the opposite sex, can she? Everything he’s done tonight—and if she thinks of it really—for a while now, has all seemed completely about her: how he always delivers her drink from the bar first when he returns to the table; how he cuts off anyone who offers to give her a ride and volunteers to ferry her on his bike; that he’s always leaning into her to whisper something like he’s creating a world that only they exist in. She knows last year she was losing her mind but she is nearly convinced that this is not all something she’s imagining. He’s resting his head against hers for fucks sake as he cuddles her under his beloved Nan’s handmade quilt! It seems incomprehensible but undeniable that he fancies her and she needs to know now if she’s right. “Finn” she says and pulls her head away to turn and look at him but then when she sees that face she can’t get any more words out. But she doesn’t need to, “Rae” his voice is low and husky, “I’m gonna kiss you…” She stays quiet but inside she is screaming with joy. She nods slowly and wets her lips.

***

She wants it too. He cups her face with one hand and with the other still around her back he pulls her in that much closer. He can’t quite believe all these months have narrowed down to this one thrilling moment where her breath is mingling with his and his fingers are tangled in her thick hair. He pauses and lightly skims his lips over hers and she lets out a hungry little whimper that only he can hear and it pushes him over the edge, “…right now” he whispers and their mouths meet and he is kissing her and in only an instant he knows that he wants this to be the last time he ever kisses anyone for the first time.

***

She hasn’t kissed that many boys but she is almost positive that it is not supposed to be like this. This is like fairy tale kissing where the handsome prince sweeps the beautiful skinny princess off her feet with a magical kiss. There is nothing tentative or sloppy about it. It is slow and deliberate and so sensual she feels like her body has already gone through a change on a cellular level and if she ever has stop kissing Finn Nelson she may truly curl up and die. He’s making soft moans as their tongues collide and heads tilt and she has the stunning thought if he kisses like this then what on _earth_ is he like in bed? The idea makes her dizzy and she presses her palms against his shoulders to get some calm. He breaks the kiss and dips his eyes to her, “is this a’right?” his eyes look worried and she can’t help but giggle. “Uh huh” is all she can manage before she goes back to his lips to drown herself in him some more.


	4. Mission Accomplished

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All the plans collide...

They walk down the hill in daze. Up there it was dark but down here the lights are up and too bright. It’s louder and drunker and they both hate to break the spell of what just happened. Rae has her arm entwined with Finn’s and their hands are clasped together and their faces are flushed with lips plump and smiling. They are still in their own world when they hear a familiar shriek and looking up their friends are all standing there and Izzy is screaming, “IT WORKED IT WORKED IT WORKED!!!!” Rae and Finn look at each other with confusion and when they look back their friends have lost their fucking minds—Chop is hollering and spinning Izzy around, Chloe and Archie are jumping up and down and high fiving each other. “What in the fuck?” Rae says, “Are you high?” Finn asks. But instead of an answer the gang rushes towards them and tackles them in a group hug. There is back patting and squealing and Rae and Finn get pulled apart in the chaos and no one is answering their increasingly anxious demands as to what is going on.

Finn finds himself in an Archie hug and as Arch pats him on the back he keeps saying, “we fucking aced it mate!” and Rae finds herself being aggressively quizzed by Chloe and Izzy, “Did he kiss you? He did! He kissed you didn’t he?? Are you together now? You are, aren’t you!” And then more jumping and hugging and Finn and Rae’s eyes meet and both are wide eyed and starting to be a little scared of whatever chemicals are in their friends systems. “DEBRIEF!!!!” Chop’s voice booms over everyone and they start moving en masse towards the exit when Finn stops and grabs Rae’s hand, “We’re not going anywhere with you lot when you’re this fucked.” They face their friends who start laughing and Rae shakes her head, “you’re scaring me, what the hell…” “We’re not high” Chloe sings, “or drunk” Archie adds. Izzy is just shaking her head with a big grin on her face. “Well, _I’m_ drunk” Chop shouts and Izzy gives him a smack. “OK OK!” she says, “if it will get you to come with us fine. So, we’ve had a plan…”

_So leave out the others baby, say I’m the only one_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title: Strange Condition / Pete Yorn (2001)


End file.
